Employers are encouraging workers to cut down their screen time may be at least part of the equation in increasing communication skills, collaboration, and creativity in the workplace.
According to a recent article appearing on the Human Resources Director website, Friday, March 6th, marked a global Day of Unplugging. Workers were encouraged to give themselves a 24-hour respite from the screens of their computers and smartphones and meet face to face or work on other projects that didn’t require electronic devices.
In a recent Digital Diet poll conducted by Frog Recruitment, 83% of participants said that if they were incentivized to switch off their screens with a monthly cash bonus of $250, they would be happy to do so. Also, some 92% of the managers of more than 9,000 workers said that they would put their team on a digital diet to encourage them to get off their devices to improve health and curb digital obesity.
Jane Kennelly, Frog Recruitment’s business relationship director, said that the poll results revealed employers are eager to not only find ways to assess the amount of time workers spend in front of their screens but also to give them the incentive to do so.
“We acknowledge that different industries have different screen time usage demands, and going on a digital diet rather than a detox is still better than total saturation of devices,” Kennelly said.
The US-based startup company, Front, has taken the lead in the quest to cut down screen time and is paying its workers $200 if they can manage to reduce their screen time to less than two days for a month.
Kennelley understands that workers have been-long conditioned to respond immediately when they receive a notification from their email or messenger apps instantly. She believes that if workers instead take the time to talk directly to work colleagues about ideas, sketch out a concept, or tackle tasks manually, it will encourage creativity and reduce overall worker stress on the job.